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Related Concept Videos

Hierarchy of Motor Control01:18

Hierarchy of Motor Control

The hierarchy of motor control refers to the different levels of organization and processing involved in controlling movement in the body. These levels range from higher cortical areas involved in planning and decision-making to lower spinal cord reflexes that respond automatically to external stimuli.
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

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Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...
Steps in the Modeling Process01:14

Steps in the Modeling Process

Albert Bandura's theory of observational learning identifies four critical processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement or motivation.
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Motor Unit Stimulation01:20

Motor Unit Stimulation

When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
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Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a bonus...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice
06:04

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice

Published on: March 4, 2014

Conceptions of ability affect motor learning.

Gabriele Wulf1, Rebecca Lewthwaite

  • 1Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-3034, USA. gabriele.wulf@unlv.edu

Journal of Motor Behavior
|June 4, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Viewing a task as a learnable skill significantly enhances motor learning and performance compared to viewing it as an inherent ability or receiving no instructions. This approach fosters greater automaticity in movement control.

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Last Updated: Jun 22, 2026

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Published on: December 2, 2022

Area of Science:

  • Motor Learning
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Skill Acquisition

Background:

  • Understanding how individuals perceive ability influences their learning processes.
  • Previous research suggests beliefs about ability can impact performance and motivation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of induced conceptions of ability on motor learning outcomes.
  • To compare the effects of inherent ability (IA), acquirable skill (AS), and control conditions on learning a balance task.

Main Methods:

  • Participants were assigned to three groups: inherent ability (IA), acquirable skill (AS), or control.
  • All groups practiced a balance task over two days.
  • Performance was assessed after practice and during a retention test on day three.

Main Results:

  • Both AS and IA groups showed greater performance improvement than the control group during practice.
  • The AS group demonstrated superior balance performance on the retention test compared to both control and IA groups.
  • AS group participants exhibited higher-frequency movement adjustments, indicating enhanced automaticity.

Conclusions:

  • Instructions framing a task as a learnable skill significantly enhance motor learning and performance.
  • Perceiving a task as an acquirable skill leads to more effective long-term learning and automaticity than viewing it as an inherent ability.
  • These findings highlight the importance of instructional framing in optimizing skill acquisition.